I have a guest post over at ‘Nothing in Biology Makes Sense’, a collaborative blog run by Jeremy Yoder – postdoctoral associate in the Department of Plant Biology at the University of Minnesota – and his colleagues. The blog centres around the famous Theodosius Dobzhansky quote:

– “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.”

It probably won’t come as a surprise to find that my post is on exaggerated sexual traits, but I thought it would be a nice topic to cover in this blog – the very existence of these ornaments and displays doesn’t seem to make sense until we investigate in the context of evolution.

I should also say that I’m aware that firefly bioluminescence isn’t strictly an exaggerated trait (as far as I know..?), but it is costly (at least in terms of predation risk), the picture is great, and it ties in nicely with the ‘light’ of evolution. I’ll ask for poetic license, just this once!

Anyway, head on over to Jeremy’s site to have a read:

Peacocks’ tails and fireflies’ bums: resolving the lek paradox

As with the podcast interview, I’d be really grateful for any feedback or comments. I’m going to be away at a conference (on mate choice) for the rest of this week, so if I’m slow to reply then that’s the reason! I’ll try and keep twitter updated on how the conference is going, so follow me here or look for the hashtag ‘#ASAB’.